Att utmana genuskodade klädnormer

En dräkthistorisk studie om Anne Lister

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyse the wardrobe of Miss Anne Lister, landowner of Shibden Hall, Halifax in England during the Georgian era. The analysis is based on Anne Lister's diaries wherein she wrote about her life, her innermost thoughts, her lesbian relationships, her wardrobe, and the dialogues she shared with people around her concerning her norm-breaking masculine choices of clothing. Through the process of research, the focus lay on three main areas of analysis: identity in relation to sexuality through clothing, how other people in Anne Lister's vicinity responded to her clothing, and finally, how power played into her use of clothing. The theoretical framework used in this article is Judith Butler's theory

concerning gender, sexuality, identity and power, as well as Joanne Entwistle's theory which mirrors Butler's main subjects but ties them into the world of fashion and clothing. The analysis concludes that Anne Lister used clothing as a tool for signalling her identity, personality, status and point of view to the people around her. She used masculine clothing in part to show that she did not follow the general expectations set on women of her time, instead she broke the barrier to the privileges of men concerning their general monopoly of power and of dating and marrying women under the norms of heterosexuality. Anne Lister knew the necessity of dressing in a way which would be acceptable to her social circle of her

upper class and in turn complied to the extent which felt necessary to her but did not choose to waver in putting her personal identity on display through use of clothing.